Archiving & digitalising

There are four reasons for proper archiving

1. Information needs of employees, students, scientists, teachers
   Properly archived information provides insight into what has already been achieved, what still needs to be done or makes it easy to take over work.
2. Accountability, evidence and transparency
   By properly archiving, we can show our quality quickly and transparently. For example for an audit, for management information or a visitation committee.
3. Cultural heritage
   Research reports and statistics are a source for historical publications and research.
4. Comply with the archive law
   TU Delft falls under the Archiefwet and the various archive regulations. This describes how we should deal with the archive.
    

Archives and retention periods

You can archive a lot. For example, student registrations, grade lists, research reports, professor of archives, dissertations, teaching materials, PhD register, brochures, PR campaigns, policy documents, complaints, minutes, manuals, work instructions, quotations, contracts. . These must sometimes be stored forever in an orderly and accessible way. You can find an overview of the retention periods in the selection list.

Help with organizing

We are happy to help you with the selection of digital or paper documents. So do you have a folder, full e-mail box, usb, desk drawer or cupboard? Don't throw anything away, just mail us. Then you know exactly what needs to be stored where. And in this way you do not run any risk with, for example, an audit or other audit or visitation.

Finding out archives can be a time-consuming job. Certainly if no order has been made before or when it concerns a lot of data. Then it might be an option to hire extra capacity. We can advise on this and also guide the process if desired. The required budget depends on the characteristics of the archive and your wishes.

For each archive it is useful to know in advance which information is involved (the subject), who made it (person, team, department / department) and the approximate period. For example, Scientific reports Architecture from 1999 to 2010 or "Work reports from team x from 1978 to 2003.
 

Digitizing

If you want to scan a paper archive, there is a lot involved. You have to think, among other things, about where you will store your digital documents and how you can find the right documents later. By determining this in advance, you save time and money and you get more from your digital archive. We can help you by making a plan together. We can also guide the process and, if desired, advise which organizations are specialized in all kinds of archives.

For example, if the archive to be scanned is too large, too brittle or too confidential to be digitized by your own employees or students, the work can be outsourced. The required budget depends on the characteristics of the archive below and the wishes of digitization.

For digitizing a paper archive it is useful to have an inventory of:

• The size of the archive. How many files, numbers of boxes, meters of archive.
• The size. Does it concern A4 or other formats?
• The material state. How old and vulnerable is the archive?
• The content of the archive.
• The way of viewing after digitization. Which research questions are important, which overviews, who should be able to access them.

Mail us via DM-lib@tudelft.nl. We are happy to come by for advice.